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The Daughter (2000)

by Jane Shemilt(Favorite Author)

3.65 of 5 Votes: 4

ISBN

0062320467 (ISBN13: 9780062320469)

languge

English

genre

Mystery & Thriller

review 1: I enjoyed this book actually, I found it was well written and I read it all in one go because I wanted to know what happened. Something really frustrated me though, I can't figure out why she appropriated my country and used it as some sort of backdrop of "poverty-stricken Africa" replete with starving children, drought and disease. Not saying we don't have all of those things in South Africa, but there is more to the country than that and as we all know Africa is not just some country that exists to provide an atmospheric backdrop to the "real world". I really can't figure out why she put in anything about South Africa at all. This is an English story, and the frequent references to South African cities had no bearing on the story whatsoever. It was a frustrating and slig... morehtly insulting experience that ruined the rest of her good writing. There was one other major flaw in the story that I struggled to believe, but that is a spoiler.
review 2: I really enjoyed Daughter. Shemilt does a great job of making a first person narrative work amazingly well. I love this point of view when a writer pulls it off and take you right into a character’s psyche. Daughter was much more complex than a standard missing person tale. The plot is complex and takes dizzying twists and turns that left me breathless. I loved the way the story moves back and forth between the present and the night of the disappearance and the few weeks leading up to it. The time shifts were spot on and really built tension and suspense, compelling me to read on and join the confusing mess of dots. The ending left my jaw scraping the floor. A great novel. I can’t wait to see what Shemilt does next. less

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